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TIL- the Mental Health Systems Act, passed int the USA in 1980 had a very short life.

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5YxAD TIL that aircraft have a strong tendency to nose down as they approach supersonic speeds. It is called Mach Tuck and early planes lacked the ability to counter this and would enter uncontrollable dives.
xV9PB TIL that Purgatory in the Divine Comedy (1320) is a mountain situated on the opposite end of the world to Jerusalem, and Dante and Virgil reach it by going to the centre of the Earth (via Hell) and up the other side. This is because the Medieval world, and hence Dante, knew the Earth was a sphere.
D1RVp TIL Freddie Mercury passed away in November 1991. On the following Christmas Day, Elton John received a package. When he opened it, he found a painting by Henry Scott Tuke, his favorite painter. There was also a note from Freddie wishing him a Happy Christmas. The gift made John cry like a child
d8VQ8 TIL Barnum and Bailey’s circus was so logistically efficient that prior to WWI the U.S. War Department would periodically send army officers to travel with them and study their transportation methods in order to improve the logistics of the army’s own artillery service (Davis, 2003, p. 78).
4XB0g TIL of Yasuke, an African who was the first foreign born samurai in Japan. He arrived in the country in 1579 with some Jesuit missionaries. He arose to become a confidant to Oda Nobunga. When he first came, hundreds of Japanese people turned out to see him; they’d never seen a black person before.